No arrests, no suspects in South Park neighborhood break-in

June 3, 2009, 9:19PM

06/03/2009

Santa Rosa police had extra patrols on South Park streets Wednesday as detectives continued to investigate an attack that occurred early Tuesday morning on a 12-year-old girl in her bedroom.

No arrests have been made and no suspect identified in connection with the Aston Street duplex break-in, where the girl lives with her parents and at least two other children, said Sgt. Lisa Banayat.

?Everyone is looking,? she said. ?They?re walking that bike path behind her house, walking through there and looking for evidence or anything out of the ordinary.?

The girl, a soon-to-be eighth-grader at Slater Middle School, awoke to an unknown man touching her at 1:30 in the morning. Fingerprints were recovered off a screen the intruder cut to gain access to the house but no match has been made with any fingerprints on file, Banayat said.

A description was given to area residents and law enforcement officials, but Banayat said it was not specific enough to draw a composite of the intruder for distribution.

Sometime before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, a man cut through a screen of the home, entered a bedroom through that window and began molesting the sleeping 12-year-old girl. She woke up to him touching her and screamed, summoning her parents as he fled through the window, police said.

The girl and her parents ? who briefly saw the suspect ? could only describe him as an adult male, standing about 5?5 to 5?8, with darker or olive-toned skin, short dark hair and a hefty midsection, Banayat said. He was wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants.

The family, reached at their home, again declined to comment Wednesday.

The window in the single-story duplex was hidden from street view, open and unlocked, with a bench below it, police said.

It remained unclear if the girl was specifically targeted. She was unaware of anyone following or watching her, Banayat said.

Investigators said they are receiving tips from people across Santa Rosa now reporting suspicious people or activities in their neighborhoods that they believe could be related to the attack. But none of those tips has yielded any firm leads, Banayat said.

Other tips are coming from police agencies with similar unsolved crimes and investigators are working to learn more about those crimes, Banayat said.

The extra patrols Wednesday were a welcome sight to Alissa Walker, who moved into the neighborhood about six months ago and would like to see more patrols on a regular basis.

?I know there?s a lot of things that police aren?t taking care of,? she said. ?I can?t put my finger on what, but if you would have more of a presence it would help.?

?I see people drinking, leaning up against my car, not being respectful and now people are breaking into houses,? Walker said. ?The police are not putting their foot down.?

Santa Rosa police had extra patrols on South Park streets Wednesday as detectives continued to investigate an attack that occurred early Tuesday morning on a 12-year-old girl in her bedroom.

No arrests have been made and no suspect identified in connection with the Aston Street duplex break-in, where the girl lives with her parents and at least two other children, said Sgt. Lisa Banayat.

?Everyone is looking,? she said. ?They?re walking that bike path behind her house, walking through there and looking for evidence or anything out of the ordinary.?

The girl, a soon-to-be eighth-grader at Slater Middle School, awoke to an unknown man touching her at 1:30 in the morning. Fingerprints were recovered off a screen the intruder cut to gain access to the house but no match has been made with any fingerprints on file, Banayat said.

A description was given to area residents and law enforcement officials, but Banayat said it was not specific enough to draw a composite of the intruder for distribution.

Sometime before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, a man cut through a screen of the home, entered a bedroom through that window and began molesting the sleeping 12-year-old girl. She woke up to him touching her and screamed, summoning her parents as he fled through the window, police said.

The girl and her parents ? who briefly saw the suspect ? could only describe him as an adult male, standing about 5?5 to 5?8, with darker or olive-toned skin, short dark hair and a hefty midsection, Banayat said. He was wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants.

The family, reached at their home, again declined to comment Wednesday.

The window in the single-story duplex was hidden from street view, open and unlocked, with a bench below it, police said.

It remained unclear if the girl was specifically targeted. She was unaware of anyone following or watching her, Banayat said.

Investigators said they are receiving tips from people across Santa Rosa now reporting suspicious people or activities in their neighborhoods that they believe could be related to the attack. But none of those tips has yielded any firm leads, Banayat said.

Other tips are coming from police agencies with similar unsolved crimes and investigators are working to learn more about those crimes, Banayat said.

The extra patrols Wednesday were a welcome sight to Alissa Walker, who moved into the neighborhood about six months ago and would like to see more patrols on a regular basis.

?I know there?s a lot of things that police aren?t taking care of,? she said. ?I can?t put my finger on what, but if you would have more of a presence it would help.?

?I see people drinking, leaning up against my car, not being respectful and now people are breaking into houses,? Walker said. ?The police are not putting their foot down.?